To Make You Smile
by baneismydragon
Summary: "Chat?" She whispered, still not opening her eyes. "Yes my Lady?" "Why do you like puns so much?" Sometimes it's the smallest things that can lead to the most profound discoveries.


Ladybug sighed. It was really getting out of hand this time and she knew that she needed to put an end to things soon before it escalated any further.

"Chat"

"Yes My Lady?"

"I swear on everything I hold sacred if you make one more pun I am going to throw you in the river."

He laughed delightedly and ran a few feet ahead of her, a blinding grin stretching across his face. "But buginette you already did that remember? If you want to threaten me you should think of something more _current._ "

Ladybug groaned and she could feel her eye begin to twitch as he fell into another round of cackling laughter. "CHAT! I mean it!"

"You love my puns, you are just in _De-Nile_."

"I am seriously going to hurt you"

"Should I take that as a _Seine_ that you want me to stop?"

She flung her Yo-yo at his head but he easily dodged, still grinning like an idiot. Ladybug tried again, chasing after her partner as he danced over the rooftops ahead of her, clearly reveling in the attention as he ducked her halfhearted attacks. He caught her by surprise when he suddenly changed directions and pounced on her, knocking her back onto a small, and thankfully neglected, rooftop garden. She rolled into the fall, grabbing onto his shoulders and flipping him around with her so that she landed comfortably on top of him. However her erstwhile partner did not seem particularly put out by this small victory, his smile widening as he cocked his eyebrows at their more intimate position.

At least he had stopped with the puns.

Deciding to reward his newfound silence, she crossed her arms over his chest and laid down atop her partner like he was a giant throw pillow. Raising her own eyebrow and tossing him a half amused, half challenging smirk, daring him to say something and risk her moving away in disgust.

He wisely chose to hold his tongue. Shifting slightly he pulled his arms back behind his head and met her stare, eyes sparkling mischievously.

She broke her gaze away first, turning her head to the side and laying it atop her forearms. She allowed her eyes to drift shut and basked in the feeling of the slight breeze and the heat of last rays of the late afternoon sun. The sky had already begun to fill with an array of pinks and oranges signaling the rapidly approaching twilight.

Marinette allowed herself to relax. It felt wonderful to just rest in the silence. Though she would never say so to him, she loved laying like this. She could feel the slight rise and fall of Chat's breath rocking her softly, and his warmth seeped into her skin even through the layers of their suits. There was something undeniably satisfying about laying atop this admittedly attractive boy that felt like a balm to all of the insecurities of her civilian life.

A warning voice in the back of her mind told her that she should be more careful. Moments like these would only encourage the already tenacious feline in his pursuit of her affections, yet Marinette couldn't help but indulge for once in the heady feeling of being wanted. It might be selfish, but she didn't pull away. Instead she allowed her mind to wander to daydreams of long summer afternoons spent lazily draped across a gorgeous blonde with stunning green eyes.

She sighed lightly, burrowing her face into her arms and felt Chat's breath catch and then resume again. A soft rumble that might have been laughter resonating from his chest. It was a perfect moment, or it would have been if it were a different boy lying underneath her. Marinette ignored the small nagging voice that ask her if she actually believed that.

"Chat?" She whispered, still not opening her eyes.

"Yes my Lady?"

"Why do you like puns so much?" She wasn't sure what had prompted the question. Maybe she just needed an excuse for them to stay where they were, lying together enjoying the company of someone she trusted implicitly. He shifted slightly beneath her, a delicate thread of tension thickening the air around them. Somehow the question had caught him off guard, but he didn't pull away. Instead she felt one of his hands tentatively stroking through the tip of one of her pigtails. As the silence between them stretched into a minute and then two, she found herself genuinely curious to hear his answer.

"My father has a terrible sense of humor." He stated gently. Marinette grinned slightly thinking of her own father but resisted the temptation to comment. Instead she tilted her head fractionally towards him in silent encouragement hoping that he would elaborate. He didn't disappoint.

"He isn't a particularly… charismatic person, and I don't think I have ever heard a halfway decent joke from him in my life. But when I was young I remember he would always tell the most awful puns to my mother, and no matter how stupid it was she would laugh like it was the greatest thing in the world. I don't know how to describe it exactly… somehow, it didn't matter that he wasn't funny or clever, all that mattered was that she loved it." He fell silent and Marinette bit down on her lip. A dozen questions she knew she shouldn't ask burned in her mind but somehow she forced herself to stay silent. Chat continued, "She would make fun of him of course, but even so she would always laugh. So father would just keep at it. I think it was his way of trying to be charming. She would laugh and he would smile like he had somehow accomplished some great feat or something…" He trailed off again.

Opening her eyes, she twisted her head forward so that her chin was resting on her hand facing him. He wasn't looking down at her anymore, instead his eyes focused straight up into the sky. Maybe he was looking for something up amid the clouds, or perhaps he wasn't even really seeing anything lost in memories of a personal life she was too scared to inquire after.

"He doesn't smile like that anymore." It was so soft Marinette wasn't sure if he had even meant to say it out loud. She felt her heart breaking for this boy whom she had so often disregarded and knew so little about. His fingers continued to absently play with her hair as he stared out at nothing.

She cautiously rubbed her foot against his in what might have been the stupidest attempt at comfort she had ever come up with. Her inner voice was back with a vengeance asking what on earth she thought she could accomplish with such an insipid gesture. She had never felt so woefully inadequate while in her Ladybug transformation.

Chats gaze snapped back down to her in surprise, and she felt herself flush. His lips parted slightly and his eyes took on a questioning hopeful look. It was a soft expression, full of a vulnerability that she didn't even know her partner was capable of until this moment, and yet…

Something about the way he was looking at her was so achingly familiar. She was frozen by the overwhelming sense that she had been here in this exact place once before. There was something important that was hovering just out of her reach. She wondered if he could feel it too. This intense déjà vu that made her stomach drop and her heart race. She was drowning in pools of green, and she could see his questioning look deepen, and she was terrified about what he was seeing reflected back from her eyes. She rolled off of him to put some space between them and let out a breathless awkward laugh. Immediately her eyes widened and the laugh turned into a choked cough because what in gods name was she even laughing at in the first place! Here was her partner alluding to an obviously troubled home life and creating an aura of sexual tension that she was absolutely not going to examine too closely thank you very much, and she was laughing like… well… like Marinette.

"I'm sorry! I'm laughing at you… I mean I'm not you… I MEAN- I'm not…" she could feel her skin burning as her words trailed off in horror as she desperately sought to regain any sort of composure.

Chat sat up and started down at her. For an instant she thought she saw a flash of _something_ across his face, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. Perhaps it had simply been a trick of the light, since when she looked again his face had returned to its usual grin and he impishly poked at her nose.

She swatted his hand away and sat up as well, feeling her tension ebb away and her Ladybug confidence return as she fended off her partner's playful attacks.

"Ugh! What is wrong with you! Stop it you worthless cat."

"Worthless? You wound me my Lady!" He clutched a hand over his heart dramatically and flopped down onto his side as though he had been stabbed. Marinette couldn't hold back a small grin as he moaned and twitched for added effect, strategically twisting so that his head was propped up against her thigh. He opened one eye at her and smirked. "I am dying my princess! Quick kiss me and save me from my fate!"

Marinette laughed and teasingly kissed her fingers before pressing them lightly on the tip of his nose. "There you go. After all I can't have you dying on me now can I."

"That would be _grave_ indeed."

It was terrible, truly terrible. Yet somehow Marinette couldn't stifle the bark of laughter that burst its way out of her throat.

Chat smiled up at her. Not his usual Cheshire grin or his flirtatious smirk, but a breathtaking genuine smile full of an emotion that she didn't dare put a name to.

"That" He said gently, his eyes fixated on her face. "That's why I love puns. Because it doesn't matter if you are good at them, it doesn't matter if you screw up, or if they are terrible, because none of those things matter. What matters is that the only purpose they serve is to make you smile."

Marinette could swear she felt her heart skip a beat. She wasn't sure if he was speaking in general, or if he meant that his efforts were solely for her sake. She wasn't sure which she wanted it to be.

She was saved from her own thoughts by the soft beeping of her Miraculous.

"Well it seems I must bid you farewell my darling bugaboo." Chat gracefully leapt onto his feet, reaching down to clasp her hand a place a delicate kiss on her fingertips. That overwhelming emotion was still dancing in his eyes and she found she didn't trust herself to form words so she simply nodded, standing up herself to prepare to leave.

"I will see you soon my Lady." He said with a wink heading back towards the rooftops to return to, well, wherever it was he went when they weren't together. Just as she was about to fling her Yo-yo to begin her own way home he turned back to her.

"Ma-… my Lady?"

"Yes Chat?" His expression was thoughtful, and she felt the strangest sense of apprehension as if he was studying her reaction.

"I don't know if you heard but it's supposed to storm tomorrow." He was still watching her with that oddly calculating expression.

"Okay…" Well of all the things he could have chosen to say that was certainly unexpected.

"I just mean…" He took a steadying breath as if his next words were of vital importance. "I just mean you might want to carry an umbrella, if you have one I mean"

Marinette couldn't help it as her face lit up at the thought of one of her most treasured possessions. "Yeah. I do." She smiled wistfully at the memory of rolling thunder and a musical laugh. A blush dusted across her cheeks and Chats face morphed into a triumphant grin.

"I thought you might say that." And suddenly he was gone. Bolting across the Paris skyline and disappearing against the darkening sky.

What a ridiculous kitty. Marinette jumped off the roof and began her own journey home.


End file.
